Jim Lauderdale - I’m A Song
Sky Crunch Records
SED7184
Jim Lauderdale is the consummate troubadour. A highly respected songwriter and undisputed champion of Americana music. His music slides all over Americana’s expansive terrain as his deep country roots surface again and again as the very lifeblood of this latest recording. Playing his roots, living his roots, and now finding unexplored territory in them, he takes the listener on an incredible journey into his musical mind and spirit. As fleeting, yet as timeless as the inspiration and images behind them, Lauderdale uses his ability to see and transform any material,
surroundings, and feeling into a musical voyage. I’M A SONG fuses his unique vocal with lyrics that draw on sentiments of hope, disillusionment, love and lost connections. It’s an album that is all about traditional instrumentation, accompaniment, and melodies made of the stuff of folk, country, blues, rock, soul and r&b—the DNA of American music. This doesn’t mean Lauderdale strays from his signature ear-bending left turns. The music may sound familiar but it’s never quite been put together in this way before as he continues his long-standing love affair and deeply creative interaction with the traditional country music of Appalachia, Bakersfield and beyond, offering an idiosyncratic and nuanced radicalisation of that tradition.
An eviscerating singer-songwriter, he invites us into his world through crafting meticulous tales full of triumph, rejection, and love. Despite the fact that there is a generous 20 songs here, there isn’t a weak one among them, and a few of ’em—Neon Hearts and The World Is Waiting—-are obvious candidates to join the roster of Lauderdale classics that began with Where The Sidewalk Ends and King Of Broken Hearts - the latter, he has re-recorded for this album, as his own version has not been readily available for more than 20 years, despite the fact it’s probably his best-known song.
Jim Lauderdale’s own vocal performance is enthralling as he serves up some of the best energetic honky-tonk since Buck Owens’ heyday. It’s a soulful style influenced by blue-collar, hard-core country with a sound that’s filled with rockin’ honky-tonk anthems and powerful ballads that tug at the heartstrings. He includes I Lost You, a hard-core duet with Buddy Miller, a bluesy song entitled Hope And Found and a title track that’s as irresistible and emotional as anything he’s ever done before. Past It sounds like Bakersfield meets Kentucky. On The Feeling’s Hanging On, a kind of break-up lullaby, he finds light amid the darkness to comfort his ex-lover. Then there’s the pleading I Wish you Loved Me to the contrast of the up-tempo lit and twisted End Of the World Rag and the serenading ballad of You’ve Got A Way All Yours.
He is joined by Lee Ann Womack for the cleverly-written Doin’ Time In Bakersfield and the desolate A Day With No Tomorrow. Patty Loveless duets with him on Today I’ve Got The Yesterdays, a good solid ballad that showcases their hard-country wailing. Mention should also be made of the superb studio band featuring such players as James Burton (electric and resophonic guitars), Al Perkins (pedal and lap steel), Kenny Vaughn (electric guitar), Dennis Crouch (bass), Chad Cromwell (drums), John Jarvis (piano), Russ Pahl (pedal steel), Michael Hulscher (piano and Hammond organ) and John Oates (acoustic guitar). A genuine hillbilly stylist, Jim Lauderdale’s soulful, passionate singing and his brilliantly idiosyncratic songs are at their very best on this album of extravagant musical and emotional riches.
www.jimlauderdale.com
SED7184
Jim Lauderdale is the consummate troubadour. A highly respected songwriter and undisputed champion of Americana music. His music slides all over Americana’s expansive terrain as his deep country roots surface again and again as the very lifeblood of this latest recording. Playing his roots, living his roots, and now finding unexplored territory in them, he takes the listener on an incredible journey into his musical mind and spirit. As fleeting, yet as timeless as the inspiration and images behind them, Lauderdale uses his ability to see and transform any material,surroundings, and feeling into a musical voyage. I’M A SONG fuses his unique vocal with lyrics that draw on sentiments of hope, disillusionment, love and lost connections. It’s an album that is all about traditional instrumentation, accompaniment, and melodies made of the stuff of folk, country, blues, rock, soul and r&b—the DNA of American music. This doesn’t mean Lauderdale strays from his signature ear-bending left turns. The music may sound familiar but it’s never quite been put together in this way before as he continues his long-standing love affair and deeply creative interaction with the traditional country music of Appalachia, Bakersfield and beyond, offering an idiosyncratic and nuanced radicalisation of that tradition.
An eviscerating singer-songwriter, he invites us into his world through crafting meticulous tales full of triumph, rejection, and love. Despite the fact that there is a generous 20 songs here, there isn’t a weak one among them, and a few of ’em—Neon Hearts and The World Is Waiting—-are obvious candidates to join the roster of Lauderdale classics that began with Where The Sidewalk Ends and King Of Broken Hearts - the latter, he has re-recorded for this album, as his own version has not been readily available for more than 20 years, despite the fact it’s probably his best-known song.
Jim Lauderdale’s own vocal performance is enthralling as he serves up some of the best energetic honky-tonk since Buck Owens’ heyday. It’s a soulful style influenced by blue-collar, hard-core country with a sound that’s filled with rockin’ honky-tonk anthems and powerful ballads that tug at the heartstrings. He includes I Lost You, a hard-core duet with Buddy Miller, a bluesy song entitled Hope And Found and a title track that’s as irresistible and emotional as anything he’s ever done before. Past It sounds like Bakersfield meets Kentucky. On The Feeling’s Hanging On, a kind of break-up lullaby, he finds light amid the darkness to comfort his ex-lover. Then there’s the pleading I Wish you Loved Me to the contrast of the up-tempo lit and twisted End Of the World Rag and the serenading ballad of You’ve Got A Way All Yours.
He is joined by Lee Ann Womack for the cleverly-written Doin’ Time In Bakersfield and the desolate A Day With No Tomorrow. Patty Loveless duets with him on Today I’ve Got The Yesterdays, a good solid ballad that showcases their hard-country wailing. Mention should also be made of the superb studio band featuring such players as James Burton (electric and resophonic guitars), Al Perkins (pedal and lap steel), Kenny Vaughn (electric guitar), Dennis Crouch (bass), Chad Cromwell (drums), John Jarvis (piano), Russ Pahl (pedal steel), Michael Hulscher (piano and Hammond organ) and John Oates (acoustic guitar). A genuine hillbilly stylist, Jim Lauderdale’s soulful, passionate singing and his brilliantly idiosyncratic songs are at their very best on this album of extravagant musical and emotional riches.
www.jimlauderdale.com